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It's summer and we live in a great place with diverse neighbourhoods, spectacular scenery, festivals, farmers' markets and street fairs.

I love my neighbourhood and walk around it all the time, but I don't know much about others. So, I'm going on a different urban walk every week. I've lined up some interesting guides to take me to their favourite places, tell me about where they live, why they live there and what they love (and even hate) about it. The tours are slow, impressionistic and personal.

So, off we go. Continuing throughout the summer, you can read about my weekly walk. Online, you'll find video of the walks as well as still photographs.

You can also post your own stories, videos and photos about your neighbourhood and what makes it great (or even what you hate about your neighbourhood) at www.vancouversun.com/neighbourhoods

Strathcona is a residential enclave at the heart of the Vancouver, a close-knit community bound by a history of fighting city hall, which has tried repeatedly to zone it out of existence.

It's been called "a slum, 'home of the working man' and absolutely charming," John Atkin writes in Strathcona: Vancouver's First Neighbourhood.

In the 1950s, the city tried to rezone it industrial. But homeowners hung on. In the 1960s, the city built the Georgia Viaduct and tried to ram a freeway through the centre of the compact neighbourhood that's bound by Hastings, Campbell, Gore, Atlantic and Prior streets.

These days, charming and affordable are the more commonly used adjectives for Strathcona - as long as your definition of affordable is a million-dollar, single-family home within walking distance of downtown.

Among the neighbourhood's unique features is the large number of historic groceries/cafes. It's at one of those - the Union Market - that I meet my guide, Geraldine Vance, who has lived in several different cities and several different Vancouver neighbourhoods. The only one she is passionate about is Strathcona.

We sat at one of the outdoor tables surrounded by other regulars (including a collection of dogs). In the corner, Aubrey Sixto played a mouth organ and strummed his guitar.

Over lattes, warm Portuguese custard tarts (pastel de nata) and freshly made orange fritters, Geraldine begins to tell me about her neighbourhood when we're joined by David Bernardino, who lives next door and works in the market with his parents, Anibel and Gloria. They bought the grocery in 1993 from the previous Portuguese owner, Armindo Gomes, who bought it in 1962.

The building dates to 1913 when Gin Lee started a laundry there. A Ukrainian immigrant bought it, turned it into a grocery in 1927 and it's been one ever since. The Bernardinos have continued its reputation for making high-quality baked goods on site. But back in the 1940s the grocery was possibly better known for the bootlegged liquor sold out the back door.

We're frequently interrupted by people saying hi and dogs wanting a pat. It's a sense of community that's at the top of both Geraldine's and David's lists when they talk about why they love the neighbourhood.

Within days of moving into their Union Street home four years ago, a neighbour knocked on Geraldine's door with a carrot cake. It reminded her of small-town Saskatchewan, where she grew up.

Every few blocks, there's a grocery that's been there for close to 100 years. So everybody has their local. Sun photographer Jason Payne, who lives only a few blocks away, doesn't frequent Union Market. His local is Benny's Italian Market only three blocks away, which has been operating since 1917.

Sated, we start our walk by crossing the street to look at a home that used to be a glass factory and was recently used for the filming of The Killing. Vancouver's first laneway house is at 877-879 Georgia St., which along with the main house has been beautifully restored. Freybe's original sausage factory is down the street and next to what was a prostitutes' stroll until the city put up concrete barriers.

The Wilder Snail, another grocery that has been operating since 1915, has more of a hipster vibe with lots of designer bikes parked outside. Kitty-corner (or is it catty-corner?), there's an artist studio.

On a couple of blocks of Pender and Keefer streets, there are bridges to get to some of the houses. At some point, the city built up the road, leaving the main floor of the houses below street level.

At Heatley and Pender, Geraldine points out Vancouver's first synagogue, which has been turned into condos. There's St. Francis Xavier Chinese Catholic Centre in the former Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church and a Russian Orthodox Church where the bells are still rung.

Small cottages built by workers from the Hastings Mill sit next to grander homes, some with intricate woodwork details. Interspersed are heritage row houses, infill housing (including a few Vancouver Specials), beautifully restored heritage homes and some that are in sad need of repair.

Jimi Hendrix's grandparents' house in the 700-block of East Pender is beautifully restored and has a plaque outside. The funky Jimi Hendrix Shrine and Museum is in the shadow of the Georgia Viaduct at 207 Union St., which is where his grandmother worked at Vie's Chicken and Steak House.

Before the viaduct was built in the 1970s, the lane between Union and Prior from Gore to Main streets was called Hogan's Alley and was home to the city's black population.

On the opposite side of the neighbourhood, there’s a large, low-income apartment complex. A mosaic on the sidewalk across from the apartment building says “The Militant Mothers of Raymur.”

There is no plaque explaining that the mothers led by Judith Stainsby risked their lives in 1971, sitting together in the path of the trains to ensure that a pedestrian overpass was built so that children are no longer in danger when they cross the tracks to go to school.

Raymur Street runs behind the housing complex and ends at B.C. Sugar. A viaduct for cars and pedestrians passes over it and in its shadows, prostitutes are often out at night.

McLean Park near the community's centre has shaded benches and a children's playground, while across Gore Street there are playing fields and Vancouver's first community garden, which has been growing since 1985.

Strathcona's diverse and sometimes gritty tapestry isn't everyone's cup of latte. But that suits Geraldine and other residents just fine. It's the last bulwark against gentrification.

dbramham@vancouversun.com

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